Egypt overtakes South Africa as continent’s top orange exporter

Weather woes and imposition of cold treatment by the European Commission severely impacted South African citrus exports in the past year. This unfavorable situation for South African exporters cost them the throne as top African exporter, according to an analysis shared by Fedecitrus.

A Dec. 19 report by the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) projects South African orange production to drop in 2024 by 1%. Trade is expected to be up 2%, with poor fruit quality affecting export numbers.

In contrast, for marketing year 2023-24, the FAS office in Cairo forecasts orange production to be up by 3%. Additionally, the report points to a 25% surge in Egypt's fresh orange exports to 2.0 million metric tons. Meanwhile, FAS projected South Africa to export 1.37 million metric tons.

As of 2021-22, both countries had about 1.3 million MT in fresh orange exports, according to FAS data.